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Pet Project
Pet Project is the second episode of season 1. Husband and wife writing team Bill and Cheri Steinkellner wrote the episode, with Timothy Björklund serving as director. Synopsis The fourth grade class is assigned to do reports on their pets. Leonard decides to do his on Pretty Boy, with Scott choosing Mr. Jolly as his pet for the project. When Mary Lou's close friend announces she will put the assignment she likes best in a magazine for pet lovers, Leonard and Scott start acting competitive, both wanting to be featured in the magazine. Plot The episode begins with everyone in the Helperman house asleep on a sunny morning, all of them dreaming. Pretty Boy is dreaming about a bird woman and his birdseed bell, pushing the girl away to gnaw on the bell. Mr. Jolly's is about a mouse who puts on a swimming cap, gladly letting Mr. Jolly eat him. Spot, who is being agitated by fleas in bed, is aware of this in his dream on a sunny island and points them to the ocean, which promptly turn into mosquitoes. Lastly, Leonard is moving around in his sleep and screams, waking up Spot, causing him to bark. Leonard begins telling Spot his dream was about Spot going to school as a boy named Scott, with Spot later telling him that actually happened and took place last week. Spot proceeds to talk about how being Scott Leadready II at school has been going well for him so far, bragging that at the rate he's going he could be at Harvard College. As Leonard and Scott walk to school, Leonard tries his best to convince Scott to go back to life as a dog. Scott rebuffs him by saying "if pigs could fly," though he gets sidetracked by the thought of it being possible and reasons they could do it in an airplane. After getting back on topic, Scott tells Leonard to worry about "what is" rather than "what if," and goes on to say there are plenty of positives to having dogs go to school with their masters. At school, Mary Lou begins the day by saying "I have a very unusual dog, he does things no other dog in the world can do." Leonard and Scott are at first terrified she discovered Scott's secret, but they find out she was actually giving an example essay on a pet, something the class will have to do under reports as "My Very Special Pet." After school, the kids talk about their upcoming essays before going to the playground for ice cream. Scott is having difficulty choosing a pet to write about, as he himself is a pet. He considers a unicorn, a phoenix and a yeti, before realizing he can't write about them because they're mythological creatures. With the other kids at the swing set, Leslie says Leonard will have the best report, as he has "the coolest dog in the whole wide world." Younghee believes Leonard won't even have to work hard, given the fact his mother is the teacher of the class, with the other kids agreeing he's lucky in that regard. Leonard defends himself by saying he does school work on his own, but by then the kids had already left. The next scene transitions to Leonard at home, struggling to write about his pet. Spot is also having trouble thinking of a pet to write about, still thinking of other pets to choose from. Spot proceeds to leave the house to use the bathroom, and notices two dogs walking by; he decides to whistle at them, believing they would be perfect for his report. The dogs instantly recognize him, and proceed to beat and tie him up for going to school as a boy. Back inside, Leonard is still having trouble writing his essay. Mary Lou, noticing her son has not written his report yet, asks if he needs help; Leonard says no, with Mary Lou offering him cinnamon buns to help him get motivated for the essay. When Mary Lou leaves, Pretty Boy yells at Leonard, reminding him Spot isn't the only pet in the house. Mr. Jolly asks Pretty Boy why Leonard would write about him when he could write about Mr. Jolly. Mr. Jolly coaxes Leonard by rubbing his fur across his face. After Pretty Boy reminds Leonard of the negative things about cats, he and Mr. Jolly begin to argue over who Leonard should do his report on. Trying to convince Leonard to write about him, Pretty Boy begins singing in an operatic voice. Mr. Jolly tries copying Pretty Boy, which ends up as "meows" rather than singing. As this is happening, an emaciated Spot comes in through the door. Spot provides Leonard with an agreement: Leonard will write his report on Pretty Boy, while Spot will do his on Mr. Jolly, which Leonard consents to. At school, Leonard is surprised to receive an "A" on his essay, with Scott getting "110%" on his report. Mary Lou was so impressed with the essays that she would like to meet the pets in person. The students will have to read their reports out loud in front of Mary Beth, publisher of Mary Beth's Special Pets Monthly, and will publish her favorite essay of the children's pets in the next issue. Leonard and Scott are both intrigued by this idea, deciding they will compete to see who gets published. Spot is putting black ash on Mr. Jolly's fur at home, as he told Mary Lou "Schrodinger" was a black cat. Mr. Jolly is not pleased with the results. Meanwhile, Leonard is having trouble controlling Pretty Boy, putting a blanket over his birdcage to make him fall asleep. Mr. Jolly secludes himself under Leonard's bed, with Leonard telling Spot he should give up and accept that Leonard will win; Spot refuses to give up, and says they will meet again in the classroom. As Younghee is reading her essay on Cheesy, Mary Lou and Mary Beth remark that all the kids have wonderful pets and it will be difficult picking who will be featured in the magazine. Scott is practicing his speech while Leonard is at his desk talking to Pretty Boy. Unfortunately, Ian's snake sees Pretty Boy and wants to eat him. While this is happening, Scott tries calming down an anxiety-riddled Mr. Jolly. When Scott leaves temporarily, Mr. Jolly gives himself a pep talk in order to calm down; once he sees Ian's snake, however, he goes back to his "scaredy cat" self, jumping on the top of a nearby bookshelf. Pretty Boy flies up there, telling him to grab his foot so he can come down. They almost succeed, until the snake swallows Pretty Boy. Mr. Jolly, wanting to save his best friend, jumps on the snake, freeing Pretty Boy from the creature's clutches. As Leslie is wrapping up her speech, Leonard is called upon to do his next. When he opens the birdcage, however, he notices Pretty Boy is gone; Mr. Jolly and Pretty Boy have escaped the school to go back home, with Mr. Jolly complimenting Pretty Boy's singing as they walk away. Leonard realizes without a pet present, there is no way he will be in the magazine. Scott relishes that with Mr. Jolly not present his chances of being in Special Pets Monthly is even higher than before. As Leonard begins reading his report, Scott begins to feel sympathetic for him. He goes outside and sheds his clothes, and jumps inside the school as Spot, playing with Leonard and doing dog tricks. Mary Beth is so touched by this that she takes a photo of the two. After school, Leonard and Spot are walking home, with Leonard being thankful of Spot for sacrificing his journalism career just to help him. Leonard uses this as an opportunity to encourage Spot to stay at home and be a dog. Spot defends himself, saying he will still go to school as Scott, and claims to be getting "more and more human" every day. As he says this, he chases after a squirrel. At home, Leonard and Spot marvel at who won the contest: Leslie and her rabbit. Spot notices half of his nose is in the picture, and believes he should not concentrate his efforts on writing, but rather as a supermodel, and asks if there's any film to take photos with. Leonard begins tickling Spot's stomach as the episode ends. Cast *Nathan Lane: Spot Helperman/Scott Leadready II *Shaun Fleming: Leonard Helperman, Fourth grader *Debra Jo Rupp: Mary Lou Helperman *Jerry Stiller: Pretty Boy *David Ogden Stiers: Mr. Jolly, Dog #1 *Pat Musick: Mary Beth *Rob Paulsen: Ian Waszelewski, Dog #2 *David Sabella: Pretty Boy's singing voice *Pam Segall: Tyler, Taylor and Trevor *Lauren Tom: Younghee Mandel-Baum *Mae Whitman: Leslie Dunkling Trivia General *This episode takes place one week after the events of the first one, "Muttamorphosis." *There is a deleted scene (pictured right) that takes place at the playground with the kids eating ice cream. The original scene featured Leonard with a strawberry ice cream cone planted on his head while frowning. Perhaps this was seen as too harsh, as the final episode omits the scene and directly cuts to the kids eating popsicles (rather than ice cream cones) at the swingset. One can tell it comes from this episode due to using the same background. Though it was not included in the final episode, it was still shown in the One Saturday Morning promos alongside other scenes from episodes and stock images. Cultural references *One opera song Pretty Boy sings is Largo al factotum (more specifically the lyrics, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!), which is an aria from the The Barber of Seville. *Pretty Boy tells the snake "What are you staring at, Jaws? You never see a guy tweeting before?"; this is a reference to the 1975 film of the same name, starring a great white shark. *Leslie's pet rabbit's name, Lady Fluffer Cottontail, is a reference to the fictional rabbit known as Peter Cottontail. *Additionally Mr. Jolly's fake name ("Schrodinger") could be a nod to Erwin Schrödinger and his Schrödinger's cat theory. Animation errors *After Spot hits his head against the wall in Leonard's room, it is disconnected from his body in some scenes. *When Scott is celebrating the fact getting in the magazine will be easier, his beanie is colored as the same dark black used on the chalkboard behind him. Category:Episodes Category:Season 1 episodes